A BIT OF HISTORY (PART 1)

Hafe’s face reddened. “Cook called Tonga the Friendly Isles, probably because he had so many girls there. Tahiti he called the Society Islands, same reason. The Cook Islands were named after him. Nice names. But because we throw a few stones and spears, we’re savages.” He stubbed out his cigarette. “No one likes Cook much in Niue.”’

‘”Here is where your Herman Melville stayed. They were very kind to him, but he writes about them like they were all cannibals.”

Um, weren’t they?

She smiled. “Well, okay, a little bit. But you’d think all we did was kill people and eat them every day. We eat fruit and fish too, you know. Eating people was for special occasions, like your holiday. What do you call it? Thanksgiving.”’

‘Queen Salote (Tongan for Charlotte) had more or less upstaged Queen Elizabeth at her own coronation in 1953. It rained hard that day. Tongan custom insists that in order to show respect you must demonstrate humility, and you cannot imitate the actions of the person you are honoring. At the first sign of rain, Queen Elizabeth’s footmen put up the hood on her carriage as it rolled toward Westminster Abbey. Hoods were raised on the rest of the carriages in the procession — all but one, that of the Queen of Tonga. She sat, vast and saturated and majestic, her hair streaming with rain, in a carriage that was awash; and from that moment she earned the love and affection of every person in Britain.’

Paul Theroux, ‘The Happy Isles of Oceania’

‘The island of Buka had been named by the explorer Louis de Bougainville after he had come across the natives in their canoes and who no doubt at the astonishment of seeing his superior sailing ship, had greeted him with the cries of “Buka, Buka” which actually meant “Who” or “What?” The island had been occupied by the Japanese from 1942 during World War Two and had been a strategic base for their fighter aircraft. Fortunately for the allied forces “Coastwatchers” had monitored and warned them of impending air strikes which had saved Guadacanal and turned the tide of the war in the South Pacific.’

Brian D. Smith, ‘Land of the Unexpected’

‘Was he not aware that nearly every colony in the world achieved independence, I don’t know, sixty years ago, and yet Tahiti remained as French as Bordeaux?’

2 responses to “A BIT OF HISTORY (PART 1)”

Love these bits! Thanks for sharing. I’m actually currently reading Headhunters on my Doorstep by Troost so it’s perfectly timed to see this! Will need to check out the Theroux book as well!

Lots of love from American Samoa, Nerelle

On Tue, Nov 27, 2018 at 11:45 PM Pasifika Truthfully wrote:

> PasifikaTruthfully posted: “‘”Does anyone still call this Savage Island?” > Hafe’s face reddened. “Cook called Tonga the Friendly Isles, probably > because he had so many girls there. Tahiti he called the Society Islands, > same reason. The Cook Islands were named after him. Nice names. B” >